There will be a second meeting this coming Thursday, February 21, 2019, at Kenmore City Hall regarding the creation of the Environmental Education and Research Center at St. Edward Park. Susan Carlson sent me the email below. PERK Board members participated at the first meeting held at UW Bothell on January 23, 2019. Daniels’ Hotel project at the historic Seminary Building is moving forward. How the surrounding trails/darkness/wetlands/streams/trees/natural habitat at St. Edward Park (and its surrounding habitat on the shores of Lake Washington) will be protected is at stake now. Who will be the stewards of the park? Who will do the research to describe the state of nature that presently exists at St. Edward Park, so that it may be protected and restored for future generations? Your input is welcomed. Many opportunities to comment exist, such as voicing preferences on what will ultimately happen to the existing “ballfield” open space that some want to stay green and the present city council has wanted to turn into an artificially lighted, artificially turfed field? We need voices to state their preferences at these meetings, so that the St. Edward State Park Environmental Education and Research Center can do its best job of creating relevant education and research. I hope it will help organizations like PERK foster environmental education and protection far into the future. We are hoping to protect threatened or endangered species. Habitat is needed to do so. If we want to promote protection of salmon in our streams, marbled murrelets in our trees and orcas in our Puget Sound, we must protect habitat in our connected habitats, from St. Edward Park all the way to Puget Sound. We need to learn how best to do that via partnerships and community education. Submitted by Elizabeth Mooney, President of PERK.
St. Edward State Park Environmental Education and Research Center
Public Meeting Announcement